Another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
You would think that the people who are closest to you are the people you know best.
But sometimes you discover that they are the very people you don't know at all.
People who live in a private world, a private room.
And so Suspense brings you Room 203 by Milton Lewis.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
It was exactly one year after I married Tony, our anniversary.
I managed to get away for a couple of days from the newspaper where I work.
Tony and I were going to celebrate.
And it all started out gaily enough.
We went back to the same hotel where we'd spent our honeymoon.
The bellboy took care of our luggage and was hanging around for a tip.
You're on the south side.
Better breeze this side of the hotel.
Oh, it's very nice, very nice.
Here you are.
Thank you, sir.
Oh, Chris, this is a lovely room.
I'm glad you like it, Tony.
And where did those flowers come from?
Oh, I guess they came from an admirer.
Oh, Chris, they're beautiful.
You're the most thoughtful husband in the whole world.
And I love you.
Roses for the first anniversary, orchids for the second, and maybe a mink coat for the third.
Well, that sounds nice, but unnecessary.
And what about the fourth, fifth, and sixth?
I don't know.
Really, darling, you better get ready.
I made a reservation for us in the page room.
The show goes on in just about, uh, wait, 15 minutes.
Here, feel.
Think I need a shave?
Uh-huh, I think you'd better.
And I have to get my dress out.
I hope it isn't too wrinkled.
I got my shaving things out of my suitcase.
Went into the bathroom.
I was just about to lather up when I heard Tony scream.
Tony, Tony, what is it?
What's the matter?
Over there in that room.
Where? What room?
That one across the courtyard.
Oh, the light just went out.
What did you see?
It was so clear.
I knew I saw it.
What? What did you see?
Well, I went to the window to pull down the shade,
and I glanced out, you know how you do.
And then I saw it.
You saw what?
That man was choking the girl.
Darling, what man?
The man in that room.
He just kept choking her.
It was awful.
All right, sweetheart, don't be upset.
It's all right.
I never saw anything like it.
Chris, do something.
All right, I'll call the police.
The police? Why the police?
Maybe there's some explanation for it.
Why don't you call the manager?
All right.
I don't understand it.
I can't believe it happened, but I know I saw it.
Hello?
I want to speak to the manager.
While I was talking to the manager,
I happened to glance at my wife.
She had an expression on her face
that I had never seen there before.
It was a strangely poignant look,
frightened and defeated.
I'll never forget it.
Come in.
Good evening, Mr. Stewart.
I'm Mr. Spencer, the night manager.
Good evening. This is my wife, Mr. Spencer.
How do you do, Mrs. Stewart?
How do you do?
Well, well, I understand you've had quite a shock.
I'm glad you seem to have gotten over it.
And if you want me to send for the house physician...
Oh, no, thank you. That won't be necessary.
You sure?
Well, my wife said it wasn't necessary.
I'm just taking every precaution.
Well, well, now,
will you tell me exactly what happened, Mrs. Stewart?
Well, I went to the window to pull down the shade,
and I saw a man.
Where did you see him?
Over there, the room on the corner,
the same floor we're on.
That would be room 203, but it's dark.
He turned out polite.
Did he? When did he do that?
A few minutes ago.
Yes, I called you right away.
You don't believe me, do you?
Why, of course, Mrs. Stewart,
but you wouldn't expect me to just call the police
without looking into this first.
I have to make sure.
We'll go over there and investigate now.
You want to come with me, Mrs. Stewart?
Yes.
Oh, please.
Honey, honey, we'll only be a minute.
I want to go with you. I don't want to be here alone.
Take me with you, Chris.
I looked at my wife, and there it was again.
The same fear and self-taught.
We went with Mr. Spencer to room 203.
He knocked on the door.
Doesn't seem to be anyone here.
Well, he had plenty of time to get away.
All right, we'd better have a look inside.
I'll use my passkey.
Come in.
There's no one here.
All right.
Is this the room, Mrs. Stewart?
Yes. Yes, this is the room.
They were standing right there near the bed.
Well, the room doesn't seem to be a bit disturbed.
Everything is in place.
Bedspread isn't even wrinkled.
But I tell you, I saw it. I did. I know I did.
Maybe it wasn't this room.
Yes, it was this room. I recognize this chair.
Mr. Spencer, does any other room have a chair like this one?
No, this is the only chair of this kind in the entire hotel.
Each of our rooms has its own decorating scheme.
But, Mrs. Stewart, perhaps...
Don't look at me that way. I tell you, I saw it.
Yes, of course. Just a moment, Mrs. Stewart.
Front desk, please.
Hello, this is Mr. Spencer.
What is the name of the check-in for room 203 today?
I see. And what about yesterday?
Thank you.
Mr. Stewart, there's been no one in this room for more than 48 hours.
We returned to our room.
My wife was very upset.
And I had a thousand questions I wanted to ask.
But I didn't. I...
I knew that Tony herself would have to volunteer the information.
She would tell me why she was so frightened.
She would tell me because she trusted me.
I wasn't going to force her to tell me anything.
I waited for her to speak.
Chris, do you believe I saw it?
Of course I do.
But you know, darling, it is funny.
The way that room didn't look as if anybody had been in it.
I tell you, I saw it, Chris. I saw it. I can still see it.
I've got to have seen it.
What do you mean, you've got to have seen it?
Couldn't you have imagined it?
Yes. Yes, I may have.
Darling, someday I'd like to tell you a story.
What kind of a story?
A sad story.
A story you may not want to hear.
Why don't you tell it to me now?
No, not now, but maybe someday.
All right.
Why don't you just close your eyes now, sweetheart?
All right, Chris.
She was exhausted, and she fell asleep.
I just looked at her.
She was so beautiful.
I went to the window and looked out, and suddenly I heard Tony scream.
Chris, where are you?
I'm right here.
Oh, Chris, darling, I saw them again. I saw them so clearly.
Sweetheart, you were dreaming.
No, I wasn't. I can still see them.
I can see them choking her.
Chris, don't you believe me?
Yes, I believe you.
She had long blonde hair, just like...
Like you?
Yes, like me.
Oh, Chris, I want to get out of here.
I want to go home.
That's a very fascinating story you tell me, Mrs. Stewart.
You see a man strangle a girl from a hotel window,
and now you seem to doubt the evidence of your own senses.
Yes, I know there seems to be good reason to doubt.
An empty room, no one there.
Mrs. Stewart, does your husband know about you?
No, no, he doesn't, Dr. Barnes.
Why didn't you tell him?
I was afraid to.
You'll have to tell him, Mrs. Stewart.
I think that's part of the problem.
You don't believe me either, do you, Dr. Barnes?
You don't believe me at all.
Is that you, Tony?
Yes. You're home early.
Yes, I am, honey. Things were slow at the paper today,
so I got the day off.
Did you go to the city?
I had some shopping to do, and I had lunch with Claire.
Anything else?
Oh, that's all.
Who is Dr. Barnes?
Why do you ask about him?
You saw him at 10.30 this morning. I followed you.
Are you spying on me, Chris?
I heard you make the appointment on the phone this morning
before I got up. I had a right to follow you.
Why, I just went for a checkup. I wasn't feeling well.
You don't go to a psychiatrist for a checkup, Tony.
I don't like secrets.
Do you love me, Chris?
I love the girl I married.
I'm still the same girl.
Are you?
The girl I married didn't hide things.
All right, Chris. What do you want to know?
Why did you go to this doctor?
I was his patient five years ago.
His patient?
I was in an institution five years ago.
What kind of an institution?
A hospital for the mentally sick.
My wife had been mentally ill.
Maybe there had been a murder. Maybe she imagined it.
There was nothing I could do but call the police.
Good evening. I'm Detective Green, homicide.
Please come in.
This is my wife, Mrs. Stewart.
How do you do, ma'am?
How do you do?
What's the matter, Mrs. Stewart?
Nothing.
You look at me as if you know me.
No, no, I don't know you.
Let me explain, Detective Green.
I've seen you before. You're a reporter on the Examiner.
I'm a reporter on the Examiner.
You must have a good memory.
It's been a long time since I covered police news.
Well, it's part of my job.
What's happened?
Well, a few days ago, my wife and I decided to spend our anniversary at the Towers Hotel.
And Tony looked out of our window across the courtyard and saw a man strangle a girl.
They were in room 203 of that hotel.
But you see, when the manager checked, the room was empty.
And it hadn't been occupied for two days.
Did you get a good look at the man, Mrs. Stewart?
Pretty good.
What did he look like?
Well, he was a man of about 45. His hair was dark but rather thin.
Go on.
He was about your height.
5'11".
Go on. Any distinguishing features you remember?
Well, he looked a lot like you.
Like me?
Would you turn to the side, please?
Sure.
He looked exactly like you. He is you.
I was amazed when I heard my wife say that Detective Green was the murderer.
I didn't know what to think.
Was this part of our hallucination?
Was Tony ill again?
And suddenly, she started to cry.
Oh, Chris. Please don't let her go away. Please.
All right, all right, all right, all right, darling.
Detective Green, with which in mind...
It's all right, I understand.
You'd better get your wife some help as soon as you can.
Oh, please, go. Please.
Okay, Mrs. Stewart.
The case is closed as far as I'm concerned.
Good night.
Chris, he was the man. I know he was.
All right, Tony. Try to get some sleep.
Finally, Tony went to sleep.
I left the house. I walked a few blocks.
Uptown or downtown. Maybe across town. I don't remember which.
I didn't know what to believe and I didn't know what to do.
And when I got home and went to our room, Tony wasn't there.
I went through the house.
Then I found a note in the foyer, propped against the phone.
Dear Chris, I'm going away.
I'm going to the house.
Dear Chris, I'm going away.
It's not fair for me to stay here.
I love you, Tony.
I was just going out the front door to find her when the phone rang.
Hello?
Hello, Stewart.
It was my night editor at the Examiner.
Say, listen. Here's the tip I think you've been waiting for.
What do you mean?
They just found the body of a girl in the river about a quarter of a mile from the Tower's Hotel.
What did she look like?
Blonde hair, slender, very pretty.
She couldn't have been more than 20 and she was strangled.
I'll be right over. And thanks.
Writing that note, Mrs. Stewart, was an act of weakness.
If there's anything we've learned, it's that you can't run away.
I'm not going to let you stay here tonight.
But where can I go, Dr. Barnes?
Where do you want to go?
Home.
That's where I think you should go.
Dr. Barnes speaking.
Who?
Mrs. Stewart, it's your husband.
Will you speak to him?
Oh, yes.
Hello, Chris.
What?
Are you sure?
No.
Chris, you're not just saying that.
Where? Give me the address.
Okay, I'll take a taxi and meet you there. Bye.
What happened, Mrs. Stewart?
They just found the body of a girl.
Chris thinks it's the girl I saw.
I'm going to meet him at the morgue to identify her for the police.
I could feel my heart skip a beat when I saw Tony.
I knew then how much she meant to me.
We only had time for a quick kiss and then we went into the morgue.
Detective Green was already there with some men from homicide.
I could feel Tony stiffen when she recognized him.
I didn't like the way she was acting.
And I began to hate Detective Green for the way he inspired fear in my wife.
The men stood around like mortals.
Detective Green lifted the sheet and he turned to my wife.
Is this the girl you say was strangled, Mrs. Stewart?
No.
Are you sure?
Yes, I'm sure.
All right, gentlemen, that's all.
Thank you for coming here, Mrs. Stewart.
Take me out of here, Chris.
All right, darling.
Chris, that was the girl.
Then why didn't you say so in there?
Didn't you see the way he was looking at me?
She's the girl. I'll never forget her face. Never. And he killed her.
You take a cab and go right home.
Where are you going?
Never mind. I've got something to do. You go right home.
Here you are. Keep the change.
Thanks, lady.
Good evening.
Detective Green.
What do you want?
I've been waiting for you.
No, no, don't try to go. I have a gun.
What do you want?
I know you recognize Julie.
And I know where your husband is.
I'm sorry.
I recognize Julie.
And I know where your husband is. He's talking to the chief.
You know what I have to do, don't you?
No, I don't.
You're the only living witness.
Why did you tell your husband I was the man you saw?
You were the man I saw.
I thought I was out of my mind, but now I know I'm not.
No, you're not.
Would have been better for you if you were.
But the manager said the room was empty.
I went to my room and spent 48 hours.
Two days ago, I stayed in room 203.
And I kept the key.
And yesterday I took 202 with Julie.
And made a suite of 202 and 203.
Unregistered.
So you were in 203. I did see you.
That's right, room 203.
And nobody would have known how a body got into an unregistered room
without the Julie raised the shade.
And you saw it.
It's too bad that you saw what you thought you saw.
And it made it such a nuisance for me.
Using a linen truck to get her out of the hotel,
putting her in my police car,
dumping her in the river.
But why did you kill her?
I'm a married man, Mrs. Stewart.
Julie got hard to handle.
It was too bad, but I just had to get rid of her.
And I have to get rid of you too, Mrs. Stewart.
I've met up with a lot of killers in my time.
They always have a way of trapping themselves.
But that's not going to happen to me.
This job's going to be perfect.
What's that?
Mrs. Stewart, where does the stall lead to?
The garden.
Oh, Chris, what happened?
He started shooting first.
They had to shoot back.
Tony, he's dead.
Oh, Chris.
Chris, you won't believe it, but I wasn't scared.
I was strangely calm all the time he was talking.
The fact that he came here to kill me
proved definitely that I was right all this time.
I was right.
He came here to kill me proved definitely that I was right all the time.
I finally knew that I never imagined any of it.
I finally knew I was perfectly sane.
And always have been, darling.
Look, we still have our anniversary to celebrate, haven't we?
How would you like to go to Paris?
I understand it's lovely in the fall.